I built a desktop Cat Gatekeeper because the Chrome extension kept getting bypassed

#javascript #showdev #opensource #productivity

Cat Gatekeeper went viral in April 2026. Millions of people installed it.
Then they opened a new tab and bypassed the cat in 3 seconds.

The problem: Cat Gatekeeper is a browser extension. It only blocks 6 specific websites.
The moment you switch to Steam, Discord, or any desktop app — the cat disappears.

So I built Pawzy — a desktop app that hijacks your entire OS screen.

What's different

Works at the OS level, not the browser level
Blocks every app, game, and browser simultaneously
No new-tab bypass (the overlay covers EVERYTHING)
No Alt+F4
Multiple animal companions (cat, dog, capybara, monkey, shiba)
Free forever, open source (MIT)

How it works

Pawzy uses Electron to create an always-on-top, fullscreen window that sits above
every other application. When your break timer fires, your animal companion slides
onto the screen and stays there until the break ends. There is no bypass path —
the window ignores all keyboard shortcuts and is not dismissable.